Man From U.N.C.L.E., Vol. 3 [Original Television Soundtrack]

The music archive of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. television series has proved unexpectedly rich and rewarding as well as diverse, even for those who, going in, knew that Jerry Goldsmith's work, not to mention that of Morton Stevens and Lalo Schifrin, was all over those tapes. Vol. 3 in the Film Score Monthly series of/i>/i>/a>/i>…
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Overview

The music archive of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. television series has proved unexpectedly rich and rewarding as well as diverse, even for those who, going in, knew that Jerry Goldsmith's work, not to mention that of Morton Stevens and Lalo Schifrin, was all over those tapes. Vol. 3 in the Film Score Monthly series of reissues -- the third double-CD set, no less -- opens its first disc with yet another variant edit on Goldsmith's original opening theme music, and ties up various other loose ends in terms of odd cues and a second suite from the music of the episode The Double Affair, and similar second assemblies of material from The Fiddlesticks Affair, The Discotheque Affair, and The Monks of St. Thomas Affair. Lest anyone think this is soundtrack ersatz, however, even the short assembly of cues from The Finny Foot Affair -- the work of Stevens -- is delightful and rich in humor, exotic tonal color, and excitement, and easily transcending its television origins. The timbral effects achieved on the reeds -- in a fugue for three clarinets, underscoring a dinner scene (with a young Kurt Russell) -- are worth the price of admission by themselves. Richard Shores' dark-toned music for a pair of fourth-season episodes is also well worth hearing, even by non-television aficionados, as examples of feature film-level sophistication in this format. And there are lighter moments, such as a Gerald Fried medley assembling a string of short, unanthologized cues by the composer from more than a half-dozen episodes, into a coherent whole running over six minutes. Most of disc two is given over entirely to music from the spinoff series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., and it's interesting to note that, while the latter series never approached the quality of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., the weak link was not the music -- the scores represented here, mostly the work of David Grusin and Richard Shores (the former sometimes adapting material originated by Goldsmith), are equal to the music from the original series, and better than most of the movie music coming out of Hollywood during this same period. The scores are not only better, but also more inventive and progressive, making use of electric keyboards, electric guitars, and other instruments that seldom showed up in an orchestral context in those days, and also incorporating jazz influences in the solos -- in fact, the music is better than the film material for which it was written. The disc closes with an extended set of cues from The Deadly Quest Affair, a fourth-season Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode that is regarded by many as a high point in the series -- the music, by Jerry Goldsmith, is extraordinary, and could easily have filled a very rewarding CD by itself that would have left no one feeling cheated even at full price. As it is, as part of this double-disc set, it's like getting to the end of a banquet and discovering pure ambrosia on the table awaiting attention from the diner.